Ingredients

• 1 lb baby white potatoes, halved but not peeled
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 8 lamb rib chops, frenched
• 4 cups packed arugula, to serve (optional)
• 1 tsp kosher salt or ½ tsp table salt, or to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Directions

1 Put the baby potatoes on to steam.

2 Get out a large dish – in which the lamb chops will fit in a single layer – and first pour into it the olive oil and sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, dried mint and celery salt.

3 Using 1 lamb chop as if it were a wooden spoon, smoosh the oil with its sprinklings around a bit, so that it’s rather better mixed, then place the lamb chops in a single layer, turn them instantly, and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

4 Heat a large, heavy, non-stick frying pan – big enough (about 11 inches in diameter) for all the chops to fit in – then duly place them all in it (the oil that clings to them from the marinade is plenty enough for them to fry in) and fry over medium heat for 5 minutes.

5 While the chops cook, check that the potatoes are tender, which they should be by now; in which case, turn the heat off under your steamer, pour off the water, and let the potatoes stand, drying, while they wait.

6 Using tongs (for ease), turn the chops over and cook for a further 3 minutes.

7 If you’re going to make this an entire one-plate meal, strew the bottom of a large serving platter with fresh arugula, or any other leafage you desire, and when the lamb chops are cooked, but still juicily pink on the inside, remove them to the salad-lined (or, indeed, naked) plate. Obviously, cook for longer if you like your lamb well done.

8 Tip the steamed potatoes into the same pan and fry for 3 minutes, then turn them over and fry for another 3 minutes, shaking the pan every now and again to make them tumble and turn in the hot fat.

9 Using a slotted spatula or similar, transfer the potatoes to the plate of chops and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (I like these plenty salty, but if you have more austere tastes or are feeding small children, then decrease the salt or ignore the command altogether) along with the chopped parsley and mint.

Prep and cook time: 40 minutes.
Serves 4.

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Excerpted from Nigellissima. Copyright © 2013 Nigella Lawson. Published by Knopf Canada, an imprint of the Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group, which is a division of Random House of Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.